Broadway Faces Potential Holiday Labor Headache

Created: 12/12/2012 12:01 PM KSTP.com
By: Hannah Anderson

NEW YORK— A union representing hundreds of Broadway porters and theater cleaners plans to vote on whether to authorize their leadership to call a strike, potentially throwing a wrench into a busy holiday season around Times Square.

Members of the 250-person 32BJ SEIU union are to rally Wednesday afternoon in front of The Broadway League, which represents producers and theater owners, to demand improved access to health care and other benefits.

Any vote would affect 32 of Broadway's 40 theaters.

Many of the people who do Broadway's most unglamorous work must work for several weeks before their health coverage kicks in. The union wants that coverage to start when employees begin work.

The League says it has had several days of "productive negotiations" and looks forward to reaching "a mutually beneficial agreement."